Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) had its price objective decreased by BMO Capital Markets to $60.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, The Fly reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. The analysts noted that the move was a valuation call.

MNST has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Monster Beverage from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Monster Beverage from $64.00 to $58.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 24th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Monster Beverage in a report on Thursday, September 13th. They issued a buy rating and a $72.00 price objective on the stock. BidaskClub downgraded Monster Beverage from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Monster Beverage from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The company presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $63.63.

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NASDAQ MNST traded up $2.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.84. 5,340,989 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,222,555. Monster Beverage has a 1 year low of $47.61 and a 1 year high of $70.21. The company has a market capitalization of $30.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.93, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.36.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 7th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 25.64% and a net margin of 25.86%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.73 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Monster Beverage will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Monster Beverage declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 8th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

In related news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.91, for a total transaction of $1,035,470.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 46,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,853,450.77. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 9.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Monster Beverage during the 2nd quarter valued at about $202,000. Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 65.4% during the 2nd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 12,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,835 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 23,831,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,365,558,000 after purchasing an additional 604,939 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Monster Beverage by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 59,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,420,000 after purchasing an additional 9,031 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.02% of the company’s stock.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, sells, and distributes energy drink beverages, soda, and its concentrates in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, and Other. The company offers ready-to-drink packaged drinks, non-carbonated dairy based coffee and energy drinks, and non-carbonated energy shakes primarily to bottlers and full service beverage distributors, as well as sells directly to retail grocery and specialty chains, wholesalers, club stores, drug stores, mass merchandisers, convenience chains, food service customers, and the military; and concentrates and/or beverage bases to authorized bottling and canning operations; and ready-to-drink packaged energy drinks to bottlers and full service beverage distributors.